Just two weeks after Speaker of the House Paul Ryan expressed public support for the legalization of industrial hemp, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is now guaranteeing that the 2018 Farm Bill will include the industrial hemp legalization provision once the House and the Senate solve their difference regarding this issue.
If there’s a Farm Bill, it’ll be in there, I guarantee that,” McConnell told reporters last Friday.
(To watch Read entire story

Recommended compliance level for Oregon licensees.
A couple of months ago, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC), for the first time, rejected a settlement offer from a licensee who had violated OLCC rules. At the time, we speculated the OLCC was done with settling and moving towards stricter compliance requirements. It seems, along with more stringent review of applications, the OLCC is doing exactly what we predicted and either rejecting Read entire story

You get what you negotiate in development agreements.
This is the third post in our three-part series on development agreements in California. In our first post we provide an overview of the use (and misuse) of development agreements in the cannabis industry. The second post breaks down the basics of development agreement laws. Here, we will discuss the key terms to include and what to watch out for when negotiating a development agreement with a Read entire story

Federal courts are finding ways to enforce cannabis contracts nationwide.
We’ve written previously about how courts, especially U.S. District Courts charged with applying and interpreting federal law, are wrestling with inconsistencies between state and federal law when it comes to state-legal cannabis. A little over a year ago, the emerging solution when it comes to enforceability of contracts involving cannabis was to apply the legal principle Read entire story

Unfortunately, a lot of this stuff is not written anywhere.
To successfully work in Washington’s regulatory cannabis industry, you need to understand the overlapping levels of laws and rules that are in the state’s regulatory arsenal. State statutes in RCW 69.50 set forth the boundaries of the regulatory system. State regulations in WAC 314-55 fill in the details of that regulatory system. Then there are official Liquor and Cannabis Board Read entire story

DEA and FDA are in a bit of a tiff over CBD.
Last week, following the highly-anticipated U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approval of Epidiolex, G.W. Pharma’s oral cannabidiol (“CBD”) solution for the treatment of seizure associated with Lennox-Gastraut and Dravet syndrome, the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) issued a Final Order rescheduling FDA-approved drugs containing cannabis-derived CBD with no more than 0.1 percent THC Read entire story

Coming soon to California cannabis?
In addition to our California cannabis business attorneys’ work on corporate, finance, and transactional issues with marijuana-related businesses, we also work with our firm’s foreign direct investment group. As California has implemented MAUCRSA since January 1 of this year, we have been getting tons of interest and questions in and about foreign investment into California’s booming cannabis Read entire story

California is taking steps to safeguard canna consumers.
Yesterday, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a new piece of privacy legislation—AB-2402—which places restrictions on how licensed cannabis companies in California share information about their customers.
AB-2402 is significant in that it prevents licensed cannabis businesses from sharing expansive categories of customers’ personal information with third parties—except in limited Read entire story

RICO suits are not just busting up gangs these days.
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) is a federal Nixon-era law originally intended to combat drug cartels and organized crime. Among other features, it allows average citizens claiming a loss in property value to bring suit for triple damages plus attorney’s fees against any “person” or “enterprise” that has a part in any neighboring “racketeering activity” which Read entire story

Could definitely be unconstitutional.
We think it is worth taking another look at whether Washington’s strict residency requirement is constitutional. Since Washington first licensed marijuana businesses in 2014, we have wondered if anyone would be willing to bear the expenses of that particular challenge. And to date, there are no Washington appellate or federal legal decisions determining the constitutionality of the residency requirement. If Read entire story

California municipalities are missing the mark on development agreements.
Development agreements have become a popular tool for California municipalities regulating commercial cannabis activities. We’ve talked a bit about development agreements in the cannabis context here. In a nutshell, a development agreement is a contract between a municipality and developer that freezes applicable rules, regulations, and policies pertaining to a property at Read entire story

WSLCB seems to want it both ways on “residency.”
Despite lobbying efforts to the contrary, Washington has maintained its strict state residency requirement for Washington cannabis business owners. If a person wants to own 0.001% of a cannabis business, the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) requires that person to be a Washington resident and to go through about 1,000 hoops before it authorizes the licensed cannabis Read entire story

Home of fewer illegal grows.
Federal enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act in states that have legalized cannabis has been a huge question mark for years, but especially so in California since the 2016 passage of Prop 64, which legalized medicinal and adult-use cannabis and laid the framework for a new regulatory regime. Almost two years later, that question remains, but certain trends have emerged, were reinforced, and now seem to be Read entire story

Will they get it right this time?
Cannabis prohibition under U.S. federal law is nonsensical and causes many problems, from oppressive taxation to civil rights violations. Under international law, however, things may be even worse. Fortunately, it was reported this week that the United Nations (U.N.) will finally take a closer look at cannabis prohibition this fall. It was also reported that the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), an agency of Read entire story

Is the vape industry in real trouble?
Like so many other U.S. industries, the U.S. vaping industry is now in the crosshairs of a 25% tariff on products imported from China. The first two waves of President Trump’s proposed tariffs against China covered about $50 billion worth of Chinese products but they did not include any vaping products. After China retaliated and proposed its own equivalent tariffs on an estimated $50 billion worth of U.S. Read entire story